AIBU to think that any bra measuring services are utterly inaccurate.

[microfight]

There is always talk of so many women wearing the wrong bra size but I have been measured differently in three different shops! From a C to an F and 34-36!

Shouldn't they all measure me the same?

Maybe we should. After all, they changed their minds when there was that uproar about them charging more for D+ bras. I'm sure they'll come up with come crap about how their inches bras are different.

:o at "their inces are different". Yes, that's probably the explanation, 32 inces are 36 M&S inces.

Why do people still seem to think M&S are the place to go?

Because over the years they have got a lot of people brainwashed. Their quality is massively overrated on most things. They have only ever been a common chain store, yet they have always cultivated a snotty attitude.

I have always hated M&S because when I was young they refused to have fitting rooms at all. They claimed that because of their no-quibble exchange/refund policy there was no need for them. Well, I would have had to go a 20 mile round trip on the bus every Saturday to change something that didn't fit/didn't suit me - it could have taken months to find something suitable at that rate! This went on for years, arrogant bastards. So I never acquired the M&S habit. Quite the opposite, in fact.

The other thing was their refusal for so long to accept ordinary credit cards. More arrogance.

But if they could actually get it right and do the basic job of measuring properly and then changing stock accordingly we'd all benefit from a high street store we could actually USE! I'd love to be able to go in and actually consider visiting their lingerie department! And it might take the profit up, seeing as clearly they only profit on their food produce now. I'd happily support them if they could just admit they are wrong and start getting it right!

I found this too about wrong sized bras - mainly about sports ones (whoa there, who said exercise?) but the main study shows why M&S are wrong:
www.tomima.com/2008/10/22/wearing-the-wrong-size-bra-may-damage-your-breasts/

I always find that the ladies who just look at you and don't use a tapemeasure, do a much better job of finding a bra with a perfect fit. I've always founnd M&S to be completely hopeless. When I looked at nursing bras in Jojo Maman, my chin could rest on my boobs and they were still trying to convince me they had given me the correct size.

I have found Selfridges, John Lewis and Rigby and Peller to be spot-on.

Fitted in bravissimo, but wearing an M&S nursing bra in a 34G, not the silly size they recommended.And it's sooo comfy!

Yes, JoJo Maman seem to use the same measuring technique as M&S - I was literally squashed into a B cup and she had to admit it was wrong and I eventually got my D cup with a bit of a protest from her that the measurements were all wrong for a D. She seemed thoroughly confused by the end of it as it was obvious her special measuring chart had let her down

I wonder how much Bravissimo make as a result of these places being so crap? Between them and R&P they've managed to corner the market! Now, if only they had more stores...

Dropped the H in inches for some weird reason..

Well, the guide "what your bra should look like" on M&S website is actually not bad. So if they only got over the "add 4 inches" myth and started believing their own recommendations and not the tape measure..

nice article here, just like the OP's experience:
www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-318261/The-great-bra-fitting-fiasco.html

Just read all of this with interest over my lunch at work...thought I'd have a sneaky look at the 'perfect fit' section of the bravissimo website and have discovered that 'intimate apparel and swimwear sites' are security blocked at work so will have to look at home this evening I also had a bad experience at M&S and Debenhams when I went in during early pregnancy with uber sore boobs and knew I needed some new bras which would see me through pregnancy but the fitters in both had not the faintest idea how to advise me or what to suggest, they didn't even seem to know that I was best to have unwired bras ended up with some from mothercare but they didn't do a 32 so had to get 34 and wear on the smallest setting which wasn't ideal! Unfortunately after all of this I MC'd but next time I'll definitely be getting myself to Bravissimo for some proper attention - don't see the point just now as we're TTC again and I suspect my size will change post pregnancy if we can get that far this time!

Oh lordy this thread is making my teeth itch to open a new shop .... but it is just soooo expensive !
Medusa ... a possibility for your DD would be to buy a 30HH and then adjust the back - ie. fold over a small 1cm piece at either side of the fastenings and machine sew it to make the back smaller in effect ... I know that this is far from ideal but it is absolute murder to get sizes for well endowed youngsters now.
I get sooooo frustrated with the whole system and the appalling service that millions of women receive at the hands of M & S and the like. It literally makes my blood boil.
And as for young girls - well I personally think the schools should get someone in to show them how to find a decent bra and to bang into them the importance of wearing one, particularly for sport. I did do a talk at a private girls school a few years back which seemed to go down well and we got a great rate for them to buy sports bras at, but need to do it everywhere really.

I suppose I could get you all to post headless photos of yourselves and fit you that way .... but it'd be a long process ! How about I take people shopping for bras - would that work?
I have been known to loiter in M & S lingerie department and occasionally interfere help bewildred ladies but I fear I will arrested one day !

Medusa, Bravissimo do lots in a 28 back. My DD is a 28 Back and gets lots of choice there.

What I don't understand is that so many women on here have said the same thing about back size and have enlightened me so why is the head of the M&S lingerie department unaware of how wrong they have got it.
Surely if it's a woman she should be aware of what a perfect fitting bra should be, I would have thought just for research she would have visited every other store to see what they do?

I'm just off to measure my old M&S 36D to see if it is actually 36 inches

Pingu I don't think the headless shots is gonna happen somehow < force-ably turns around eager eyed male thread lurkers and aims a swift kick at their backsides>

I've had a brainwave for you though. How about you get a case of various bra sizes and makes together and do a fitting service in the home? You could even do Anne Summers style parties and they could buy bras through you! That way you could advise on the different makes size variations and ensure people are aware the brand is as important as the measurement when getting a good fit. I can imagine that many mums of teens would be happy to host these to ensure their girls are comfortable and well fitted :) I've got myself excited at the thought of it already!

My M&S 36D is 30 inches???

My fantasie 34F is 27 inches

Ha, you've just made me take mine off and measure it too. Freya nursing bra, 30F= 28.5 inches. I expect they allow for a bit of stretch.

I'm a 30FF and I've refused to shop at anywhere but Bravissimo for years now.

It all became a lot easier when they opened on in my town so I didn't have to drive an hour and a half to Nottingham anymore :)

I got all of my nursing bras from there too.

I do think their swimwear needs work though. The supportive band is always too low on me so I end up really uncomfortable. Tankini (too fat for bikinis) was better but not perfect.

This is going back a bit in the discussion, but someone had mentioned that many more ladies, and particularly younger ones, wearing much bigger sizes these days. I would to a certain extent put that down to the fact that larger sizes are now available. As I posted earlier, when I was a teenager, a GG size bra (which I needed) was more or less impossible to find, and when you did, it was in 'old lady' style. I remember, vividly, reading teenage magazines (Just Seventeen, Mizz etc) as a 14 year old and on a regular basis, they would have articles on how to buy a bra. When I was already feeling self concious about my massive GG chest, I read a nasty article in one of these magazines sniggering about 'and if the difference between x measurement and y measurement is z inches, you would be an F cup......imagine that, freaks etc' It was the final straw, and I locked myself in my bedroom and slashed my arms with a razor. I'm so glad that teenage girls today don't feel the same, and that to be larger than a C cup is not to be condemned to ugly granny bras.

I also second the idea of people giving talks in schools - I was written off as lazy and good for nothing in school PE lessons because I was so painfully self concious that I couldn't run in front of people, due to the bounce factor. Sports bras in my size just didn't exist, but I was so crippled with embarassment that I couldn't even start to explain to the PE teacher that it wasn't laziness, but discomfort, that was preventing me from participating.

Following on....this thread has literally changed my comfortableness for ever!!

What about swim suits? Where and what is good for curvier types. I am a size 14.

I am way to shy for bikini's, love swimming but don't go because I am too embarrassed and the swim suit I have give me no support, arm pit fat etc.

Gosh Snoozle that is awful! I hope you found your confidence very soon after leaving school.

micro - that is because they take their measure from the bust size, not the band size. Which I have always thought was a bloody stupid way to do it, and this thread has proved me right - but it makes me wonder about other bra manufacturers as well.

Snoozle - :( and bloody horrible thing for them to have written. Bitches.

Microfight thanks, I'm all ok now. Had breast reduction surgery, for a start! Also met a fantastic man whilst still really young, so that helped too!

But more seriously, I am determined that my own DD will never feel the way I did (and I also hope she hasn't inherited my enormousness, as the ladies in DHs family are lucky to be on the tiny end of the spectrum).

err, just re-read post and want to clarify my 'met fantastic' man statement. What I meant is 'met a fantastic man who did not see me as comedy boobs perched on top of skinny legs', which boosted my confidence a lot!